space
Additionally,the photocellexhibits amemory effect
where the timeit takesto recover dependsonlight
durationandintensity.Inuse this resultsin afaster
releasetime for short signal burstsand aslower
releasewhen the signal remainscontinuously above
the compressionthreshold.Thisis analogous tohow
the human ear recovers from highsound pressure
levels andis the reason whythePC-2Asoundsso
natural and transparent.
The ‘PeakReduction’ potentiometer setsthegain in
the side-chain–thehigher thegainthelower the
threshold andthegreater thecompression willbe.
There aremany compressor pedals that allow for
direct adjustment of threshold,in contrast the PC-2A
controls the side-chain gain anddoesnotaffect the
signal in the audio path.
Side-Chain Circuit the PC-2Ais basedon‘feed-
back’ control circuit like the LA-2Astudio
compressor.With this circuit topology the signal that
is used todrivetheside-chain is affected by the
gain-reduced signal.This typeof topologyseems to
be preferred over ‘feed-forward’ for its more musical
characteristics.
There is also some pre-emphasison the side-chain
similar to an “A”weightedfilter curve.Thiscurve
characteristic approximatestheresponseof the
human ear.Hereit workstominimise‘pumping’
normally associated whenacompressor is
processing low-frequency material.
ce
Controls
Peak Reduction knobcontrolsboth the threshold
and the amountof compression.Thisknobshould
be set so that the PC-2Aexhibits the desired amount
of compression or sustain.Agood starting point is at
the 9o’clockposition,wherethesubtle compression
enhancesnote detailand createsafuller,warmer
tone.Rotating this knob further clockwise
progressively levelsout playing dynamicsto
compress notes thatare too loud and boosting
quieter notes. This is particularly appropriatefor
country and funk-stylelicks.
Gain knob should be used tomatchtherelative
levels of bypassed andeffected signal.It also
provides the capability to boost yourguitar signal for
solosand even overdrive youramp.TousethePC-
2Aas atube booster andpushyouramp into
smooth overdrive,simply turnthe‘Peak Reduction’
knob fully anti-clockwise.
Limit/Compress toggle switch alters thetransfer
characteristic of thecompressor input/output curve,
enabling PC-2Ato operate asacompressor and
limiter.When isin the‘up’ position(compressor
mode)the curve isshallower,presentingalow
compressionratio which soundssubjectivelymore
transparent. Inthe ‘down’ position (limiter mode)the
curveis steeper resulting in ahigher compression
ratio, creating a fatter more squashed sound.
